NEWS STORY: Pope meets with Italy’s ex-communist prime minister

c. 1999 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ In a striking footnote to history, Pope John Paul II met Friday (Jan. 8) with Italian Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema, the first former Communist to lead a major Western European country. The Polish-born pontiff, once a tireless campaigner against communism, has met with 10 ex-communist leaders since […]